What image comes to mind when you hear the word “hero”? Do you think of a grizzled firefighter who routinely risks his life to save others? Such a person is certainly a hero, but so is the child who has the presence of mind to dial 911 when the house is on fire! Heroes come in all shapes and sizes. In our Agents of Grace sermon today we’re going to learn about an unlikely hero named Abigail. She was a housewife who kept David from doing something he would have regretted the rest of his life. Let’s find out more.
How would you feel if out of the kindness of your heart you spent the afternoon raking and bagging leaves for your neighbor who watches you do this, but when you knock on his door to ask for a drink of water, he tells you to get lost. I don’t think you’d want to do anything kind for that guy again. Our sermon text describes David in a similar situation. He and his men protected the shepherds and flocks belonging to a tycoon called Nabal. They had done this simply because they were in the area and it was the neighborly thing to do. When it came time for Nabal to sheer his sheep, David thought he would ask that rich man for a few provisions. But Nabal responded: “Who is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants are breaking away from their masters these days. 11 Why should I take my bread and water, and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men coming from who knows where?” (1 Samuel 25:10, 11)
Nabal showed no common decency. He had clearly benefited from David’s presence and protection, but he wasn’t about to give away any of his stuff. David was livid. He ordered his men to strap on their swords. David wanted to kill Nabal and every last male in his household. We can understand David’s reaction. In fact many would say it was normal. But was it? This was the same man who had showed such restraint in regard to King Saul. Why, David had felt guilty for even cutting off a piece of Saul’s robe. But now, David was so angry that he thought nothing of cutting off a whole household from the land of the living. If David would have followed through with his plan, he would have been guilty of mass murder.
God intervened by sending an unlikely hero, the agent of grace Abigail. Abigail was Nabal’s wife. She was described as beautiful and intelligent. Unfortunately she had not been present when David’s men came with their request. But when she found out what her husband had said, and learned from one of the servants that David was on his way to do something about it, she leapt into action. She quickly sent ahead enough food to feed David’s 600 men and then she followed to intercept David.
She met him just as he was about to come out of a narrow canyon. Abigail’s heart must have been pounding when she turned the corner and came face to face with David and 400 of his men dressed for combat. Perhaps she had even overheard David who had just finished saying how he was going to slaughter all the men in Nabal’s household before daybreak. Abigail wasted no time. She dismounted her donkey and bowed low before David. She addressed him as lord, as if he was already the king of Israel, and not some no-name ruffian as her husband had treated David. Abigail said with great tact and wisdom: “Please pay no attention, my lord, to that wicked man Nabal. He is just like his name—his name means Fool, and folly goes with him… The LORD your God will certainly make a lasting dynasty for my lord, because you fight the LORD’s battles... When the LORD has fulfilled for my lord every good thing he promised concerning him and has appointed him ruler over Israel, my lord will not have on his conscience the staggering burden of needless bloodshed or of having avenged himself” (1 Samuel 25:25, 28, 30, 31).
What I love about Abigail is that she doesn’t tell David that he has no right to be angry. He does! Nabal had been arrogant and foolish. But what Abigail urges David to do is to control his anger. He could do that by remembering two things: he had been appointed to fight God’s battles, not his own against people like Nabal. And when he became king, David would not want this senseless slaughter on his record, nor on his conscience. Abigail was appealing to David: “Let yourself be known as a merciful king who trusts in the Lord, not as a hot head who must avenge every insult.”
If only we would remember those truths when we’re about to be carried away by our anger! Like David, we will have to put up with people that make our blood boil. But it would be helpful if we remembered that we’re not perfect either. We have done and perhaps continue to do things that make other people steaming mad. When we are angry at others, we’ll also want to remember how the Apostle Paul said that our struggle is not against one another, but against the spiritual forces of this world (Ephesians 6). Our enemy is Satan and our own sinful nature that wants us to give full vent to our fury. But the Apostle James wrote: “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires” (James 1:19, 20). Unbridled anger can only lead to God’s judgement.
Because we struggle to control our anger, God in his mercy sends people like Abigail into our lives. These agents of grace speak calmly to us and help us consider a better way to deal with the situation. Listen to what else Abigail said to David: “Even though someone is pursuing you to take your life, the life of my lord will be bound securely in the bundle of the living by the LORD your God, but the lives of your enemies he will hurl away as from the pocket of a sling” (1 Samuel 25:29).
Do you get Abigail’s two-fold picture? First of all she reminded David that he didn’t have to fear Saul’s hatred towards him, because God had “bound David securely in the bundle of the living.” Abigail wanted David to picture what he himself must have done countless times as a shepherd—gathered a little lamb in his arms and brought that little bundle to his chest to protect it from some dangerous animal. “That’s what God has done with you, David,” Abigail asserted.
It’s a beautiful picture isn’t it? You might not be in the habit of gathering a lamb to your chest, but it is what you parents do with your children, and you children love it! Why? Because there is no more secure feeling than being enfolded in the arms of Mom or Dad! And guess what? That’s exactly what God has done with you through baptism. He scooped you, a miserable sinner, into his hands and brought you close to his chest. That’s where he holds you now and will into eternity.
Think of how unnecessary and really how foolish it is then for us to kick at others in rage. God will take care of us, and he will deal with those who really are a threat to us. That’s what Abigail reminded David of with her second picture. She said, “…but the lives of your enemies [God] will hurl away as from the pocket of a sling” (1 Samuel 25:29b). Ah, that was another picture David could appreciate as a sling-shot expert. Any stone that David hurled from his sling was a stone that was probably never seen again, unless it hit its mark like it did with Goliath. “That’s how God is going to deal with your enemies,” Abigail was saying. “He will cast them far away from you. But he will do it in his own time and in his own way. David, let God be God, and leave everything up to him, including dealing with my foolish husband!”
Did Abigail’s words hit the mark? Would David relent? Or would he bowl Abigail over on his way to kill Nabal? This is what David said in reply: “Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, who has sent you today to meet me. 33 May you be blessed for your good judgment and for keeping me from bloodshed this day and from avenging myself with my own hands” (1 Samuel 25:32, 33). It was the humble and calm David again. He knew Abigail was right, and so he broke off the foolish attack against her husband.
But that doesn’t mean that Nabal was off the hook. When Abigail returned home, Nabal was drunk. So she waited until the next morning to tell him how close David had come to cutting Nabal to pieces. The news caused Nabal’s heart to stop momentarily so that he fell into some sort of coma for the next ten days. Then God himself ended Nabal’s life. Yes, Abigail had been right, God would deal with Nabal in his time and in his way. There had been no need for David to involve himself in the matter.
Who are the Abigails God has sent into your life? Have you humbly listened to these agents of grace, as did David? Or do you dig your heels in and keep listening to your sinful nature which asserts that you have every right to be angry and to act in revenge? Such pride is dangerous because it’s not only the sin of making ourselves lord and god, it’s dangerous because whatever we do in anger can harm a lot of other people. How many families and how many congregations have been torn up because of such stubborn anger and pride?
Oh Lord forgive us for not welcoming the Abigails you have sent our way. Forgive us for not being an Abigail to the people who are close to us. Forgive us for standing idly by as their anger has burned. Give us the tact and courage that Abigail displayed so that we may be the peacemakers you have called us to be.
While we may succeed in turning another person’s anger away with our words, we can’t do the same with God’s anger can we? When God’s anger burns against our sins, nothing we say, nothing we do can turn that anger away. But we’re not destined to be destroyed by that anger. That’s because God’s Son, Jesus, stepped into the breach just as Abigail stepped into David’s path and turned him away from venting his anger. Only Jesus offered his life and not just placating words as had Abigail. And although David did not kill Nabal, I don’t think he was eager to be his buddy either. But God is eager for you to see him as your best friend and protector. That’s why he has gathered you close to his heart and promises to fling away those who want to destroy you. So no, there’s no need for us to kick at such people in anger. Let God deal with them, even as he dealt with Nabal. Amen.
SERMON NOTES
List at least three interesting facts about Abigail.
David was angry with Nabal. Why was that surprising? Why wasn’t it surprising?
How did Abigail succeed in turning David away from his anger? How can what she said turn you away from anger?
In what way was Abigail like Jesus?
To whom can you be an “Abigail” this week?
